Robbie Swinnerton serves up morsels from the foodiest city on the planet

beef

12/20/2015

Another great year for dining out is drawing to a well replete close. But before the bonenkai (“forget the old year” parties) erase the old memory tapes for good, let’s quickly hit that pause button and rewind a few of the finest highlights of the past 12 months…

Without question, the most memorable meal of 2015 – in Tokyo, at any rate – was Noma Japan. The ultimate mark of its success is that it is still being talked about, not just in Copenhagen but also here in Tokyo. My blow-by-blow blog account of that feast is here…

• Openings of the year

If a measure of a city’s dining scene is the number of new restaurants appearing each year, then Tokyo is in ruddy health. Among the stand-outs were Abysse, where Kotaro Meguro netted a Michelin star within 10 months…

… Le Sputnik, which also got its star, even though chef Yujiro Takahashi only launched it in July of this year…

…and Celaravird, in the backstreets of Uehara, where Koichi Hashimoto’s multi-course modernist cuisine reflects influences from his stints at El Bulli and Noma, as well his time in charge at the Tapas Molecular Bar here in Tokyo.

• Reopenings of the Year

Until this summer, you had to seek out Hidetoshi Nishioka’s discreet, one-counter restaurant in a shabby corner of Shinjuku if you wanted to taste his light, precise Japanese-inflected Shanghai delicacies. Now he has moved Renge to the mainstream, in central Ginza…

Meanwhile, Koji Kobayashi also arrived in Ginza, after closing Antica Trattoria Nostaligica in Meguro (as well as Fogliolina della Porta Fortuna, his exclusive, one-table dining club in Nagano Prefecture. His new Ristorante F èffe is serving some of the best Italian cuisine in the area…

But the absolute top reopening of the year was – of course – Florilège. "Like a butterfly from a chrysalis in a stunning, spacious location boasting counter seating and a massive open kitchen that perfectly highlights Hiroyasu Kawate’s inventive, theatrical cuisine."

• Collaborations of the Year

Bulgari il Ristorante in Ginzahosted a wonderful series of collaborations – called "In Cibo Veritas" – with some of Italy’s finest stars of the kitchen joining resident chef Luca Fantin. There were many superb highlights, but the one unmissable event featured Massimo Bottura from Osteria Francescana in Modena. Much more on the blog here…

But for sheer flavor, creativity and fun, nothing beat the three dream-team tie-ups put together by Zaiyu Hasegawa of Jimbocho Den, Susumu Shimizu of Anis and Hiroyasu Kawate of Florilege.It was a privilege and a pleasure to have attended them!

• Best beef

Shake Shack touched down in Kita-Aoyama to massive hype and waits of up to three hours... And in Ebisu, Hugo Desnoyer's ethical French beef proved hugely popular…

But for flavor and inventiveness, Henry’s Burger was the place to be. The patties are 100-percent wagyu beef, with no filler or additives, and served in a bun that is light as air. Big congratulations to Henry Nakahara! A more detailed review will follow soon…

11/09/2015

"Tradition looks quite different in Tokyo than, say, Kyoto. Concealed and evolving under constant layers of renewal and reinvention, you have to search it out. Where to start? Just head to the atmospheric nightlife district of Kagurazaka and make your way to Kohaku…"

Starting with this gorgeous opening dish — kegani (hairy crab) meat glazed with a viscous drape of yuzujelly and served on its beautiful speckled carapace…

Then, a couple of morsels of unagi eel, deep-fried with a dusting of kombu and star anise, served with new-season ginkgo nuts…

Owan: a clear broth of superb dashi, featuring a single large and remarkably tasty shinjo (dumpling) made from kinmedai (splendid alfonsino)…

One of the highlights – not necessarily to look at, but definitely to eat: a rich porridge of mochigome (sticky rice) cooked with suppon (softshell turtle) meat, burdock, ginger, shallots and garlic. Strong flavors for Japanese cuisine, but this was wonderfully invigorating food for the evening chill...

Aki-saba (autumn mackerel) that was marinated with vinegar for four days and lightly smoked over burning rice straw.

Charcoal-grilled nodoguro (seaperch), with a cube of pureed burdock…

Tartare of Tochigi beef, served with a quail's egg cooked in the onsen tamago style, sprinkled with shio-kombu (kombu "tapenade”) and shavings of Alba white truffle. The photo doesn't really do it justice – but this too was superb.

The focal point of the meal. Donabe-gohan, clay-pot rice cooked with madai (sea bream)…

07/02/2014

My review of the new (March 2014) Jean-Georges Tokyo is up now in the JT. Here is the original text before it somehow got a bit lost in editorial transition…

French-born, New-York-based superchef Jean-Georges Vongerichten has some two dozen restaurants to his formidable name, spread over six countries on three continents. Now he’s added Japan to that impressive list.

J-G Tokyo opened in March in the compact premises formerly occupied by Le Chocolat d’H on Keiyaki-dori, Roppongi Hills. It’s as sleek as you’d expect for the location, with plush designer-casual tables upstairs and counter seats on the ground floor.

Madara cod and shimeji mushrooms, bathed in a warm consommé of clear tomato and lemongrass

The man in charge of the open kitchen is Fumio Yonezawa. He spent several years at the New York main restaurant and executes the Jean-Georges signature dishes and their light Asian accents with considerable aplomb.

The classic amuse-bouche appetizer is the Egg Toast: a whole golden yolk, still warm and runny, served between thin slices of crisped bread, generously topped with truffle shavings.

The Jean-Georges famous Egg Toast

The other trademark J-G starter is Egg Caviar. For the summer, though, this is replaced by a lighter, zestier dish: Lemon Gelée topped with a generous scoop of caviar. Refreshingly decadent.

Lemon Gelée and Caviar with Crème Fraiche

These are the opening gambits in the impressive five-course ¥13,000 dinner menu. For this ‘hood and this level of cooking, that’s good value. (There are also menus at ¥18,000 and ¥24,000; and a la carte)

Warm shrimp and Sea Urchin, Green Chili

Especially as it culminates with a sizeable slab of teppan-fried Hida beef and a suitably rich, satisfying chocolate dessert.

05/21/2014

As introduced in my Japan Times column this week, La Bonne Table is the star of the new Coredo Muromachi buildings, in Nihonbashi. It's the "second restaurant" of L'Effervescence – meaning it's modern French too, but simpler in style – and it's very good.

Here are few more images from visits last month (and also earlier this month) at dinner and lunch. Starting with the very first dish that is served each time: a salad comprising of vegetables from (primarily) the pioneering Eco-Farm Asada, in Chiba.

At dinner, this will be followed by another "snack": deep-fried potatoes of a variety called Inca no Mezame (it's a cross-strain with spuds from the Andes). Very good, but dangerously filling at the start of the meal…

Which gets under way with some serious hors d'oeuvres. Such as this creamy soup made with new-season onions: Adorned with morsels of home-smoked bacon, charcoal-grilled new-potato gnocchi, oven-roasted beets and tender spinach leaf, a signature dish if ever there was one.

And this: a salad of charcoal-grilled sawara (Spanish mackerel) and burdock, also from Eco-Farm Asano, in a vinaigrette of dekopon citrus.

The bread is also excellent: it's a sourdough shipped up from Sucre Coeur in Osaka – one of the finest bakers in Japan.

And another little 'tween-dish palate cleanser: a thick, satisfying vegetable juice, made by blending up whatever is leftover and can't be served on the plate. Very refreshing.

As a main course, this one was excellent: Roast guinea fowl (horohoro-cho), served in a jus prepared with the bird's innards and semi-dried black olives, with green asparagus, shiitake and whole spelt (wheat)…

But for me this was the highlight: a single-serving pie stuffed with red-wine-simmered beef tail, potato, lotus root and garland chrysanthemum, accompanied by a vivid orange sauce of flavorful Aroma Red carrots.

So good it deserves the long, lingering close-up treatment…

As dessert, the Tochiotome strawberry soup was good. But the standout was this one: Pumpkin puree with vanilla, Earl Grey chiffon cake and Fourme d'Ambert blue-cheese ice cream with a thick, rich plum jam and a scattering of caramelised walnut. Well alright.

Finally, to close, and to go with our coffee, some little mignardises. They look like takoyaki balls, complete with daubings of "mayonnaise", and are served in just the same kind of "boat" made from a thin shaving of wood. But in fact they are chocolate...

Here's the team: Chef Nakamura in his kitchen; and at the door with the front-of-house staff.

And although the menu will have changed by now, this was how dinner (left) looked in April, and lunch in early May. Quite a lot of similarity there. Not that I was complaining: I went back and had pretty much the same meal again — and loved it!

11/05/2013

It was British night at The Market SE1, and Yasu-san cooked up a classic. Nothing fancy, of course. And the tableware could hardly have been simpler.

As the starter: crab cake with a curry-spicy Bramley apple sauce…

For the main course: generous chunks of Guinness-braised beef, with Yorkshire pudding and three veg.

And for dessert: a selection of SE1 gelatos. That's hojicha with milk-choco on the right; and the same choco with fresh fig/black sesame on the left.

SE1 is a small place, with only a few seats inside, though there are also a couple of benches on the street outside, where you can gaze at the passing Enoden streetcars. The kitchen space is minuscule, so Yasu-san only prepares limited amounts. Needless to say the beef sold out fast.

Those who got there late had to settle for fish & chips. They're good, though: he goes down to the pier at the end of his street in the morning, and picks up whatever has been freshly landed: it could be kamasu (baracuda), saba (mackerel), or even hamo eel.